chowkwan@aerospace.aero.org (06/04/90)
Capsule review:
---------------
The Aragon d2a converter is good at unravelling
complex orchestral passages. Unfortunately, it compresses
the dynamic range so I rejected it for that reason. The PS Audio
Digital Link is somewhere in between the d2a and my Sony
C7ESD player. i.e. it helps to smooth out the sound and
improve the tonality - but not as much as the d2a. On the
other hand, it doesn't squash the dynamics like the d2a does.
Conclusion:
----------
I think I'll wait another 6 months before sampling the D/A
waters again. The state of the art is evolving so quickly,
it doesn't seem worthwhile to compromise and get something
flawed when better things will be available real soon now.
Full review:
-----------
I was listening to Karajan's version of Puccini's Turandot
on the Deutsche Gramophon label last Friday when I got
fed up with the screechy sound and couldn't stand it any
more. The voices sounded flat and metallic, loud musical
passages with many instruments degenerated into an amorphous
blob of sound.
So I upped and borrowed the Aragon d2a and the PS Audio
Digital Link D/A converters. The Aragon lists for around
$1K and the Digital Link for $800 so they are the bottom
of the barrel compared to the Krells, Wadias, Thetas, Nakamichis,
Staxes.
I'll only report my reactions to the d2a. As I stated in the
capsule review, the Digital Link falls somewhere between the
d2a and my regular Sony player.
Puccini's Turandot. Karajan conducting.
Deutsche Gramophon (DG)
---------------------------------------
>From talking to other audiophiles, I've recently realized that
DG has a reputation for terrible sound. This was surprising
to me since I'd always thought of them as one of the better
labels. Certainly, they're expensive and they have recorded
many famous musicians including Karajan, Abbado, Kempf, Pollini,
to mention a few. So while the musical standard is high, the
recording quality is considered less than the best.
On track one of disc one, the opening fanfare was much mellowed
on the d2a as compared to the Sony. The brass sounded less
like someone was banging on sheet metal and more like a wind
instrument. The voice of the royal announcer was no longer
flat, but sounded like a human voice.
On the last track of disc one, in the final fanfare, I could
distinguish the violins from the other instruments where
there had been just a solid mass of sound from the SOny.
Well, at this stage, I was about ready to buy the d2a.
It seemed the answer to my problems and at half the cost
of the junior Theta/Wadia. But then I decided to maybe
try another disc ...
Linda Rondstadt. Howl Like the Wind.
------------------------------------
On the first couple of tracks of this album, the tonality was
smoother but the dynamics were squashed by the d2a.
I'm prepared to entertain notions that I was getting
a more natural sound from the d2a, and that the dynamics
that I missed were actually a distortion of the treble.
(In fact, that's what the line the salesman pushed the next
day when I returned the stuff but I wasn't buying.)
However, I found that the Digital Link was able to smooth
the sound without the squashed dynamics so I tend to
think something in the d2a's smoothing circuitry also damps
the sound.
I tried some other pop and jazz stuff with similar results.
In each case, smoother sound from the d2a but squashed dynamics
also. I also decided against getting the Digital Link, because
although the sound was improved, the improvement didn't seem
to be worth the $800 cost. I would have at least first
taken a look at Sony's new C8ESD (8 times oversampling
versus the 4 times oversampling in my C7ESD) at half the
cost before trying for the Digital Link. The Denon is
another possible alternative to the Digital Link. i.e.
the Digital Link didn't offer the same quantum improvement
in tonality that the d2a did, that would make the extra
bucks over a good CD player worthwhile.
If you think my listening was limited, try auditioning
2 bits of hardware between the hours of 5pm and 11am the
next day. There's a certain overhead in plugging and
unplugging interconnects. Plus you've got to keep playing
and re-playing the same tracks and trying to remember
what they sounded like. Hey, man, I was tired by the
end of this session. I'd hate to do this for a living.
It would take all the fun out of music.
Diagnosis:
----------
Well, maybe it was the wire. The store gave me a Monster
Cable video cable to use as the interconnect between
my Sony player and the D/A converters. They told me
they hadn't done enough investigating to know what was
the best wire to use so the Monster Cable was a sort
of stop gap until they found something better.
Well, maybe it was the transport. Maybe with a
better transport, the d2a would have sounded better.
But if I could afford a better transport, I'd probably
be looking at a better converter anyway.
Physical Stuff:
-------------
Both the d2a and the Digitial Link come with an outboard
power converter. Both are about 1 inch thick. The d2a
is much larger - about the size of a tray. The footprint
was bigger than my CD player. The Digitial Link is a
bit bigger than a modem. The d2a has provisions for 3
digital inputs - one of them optical. It automatically
flips the sampling rate to match the input, i.e. can
handle DAT. The d2a also has a phase inverter switch
that comes with a long extension cord so you flip the
phase from the comfort of your armchair. The Digital
Link has only one input and no fancy phase inverter.
Other Stuff:
-----------
Transport Sony C7ESD (you should know that by now).
I use the fixed output of this machine.
The variable output sounds awful.
Interconnect to pre-amp: 1m Audioquest Lapis (old style)
pre-amp: VTL DeLuxe (low Z output (whatever that is))
Interconnect to power amp: 1m Cardas Quadlink
Power amp: VTL 90/90
Speaker cable: 40' of generic 10ga wire. Cardas banana plugs.
Speakers: GNP 210's.
The room is an irregular rectangle, approx 12' by 35'.
-- raydjohnson@ti.com (Doug Johnson) (06/06/90)
In article <4280@uwm.edu> chowkwan@aerospace.aero.org writes: >Capsule review: >--------------- >The Aragon d2a converter is good at unravelling >complex orchestral passages. Unfortunately, it compresses >the dynamic range so I rejected it for that reason. The PS Audio >Digital Link is somewhere in between the d2a and my Sony >C7ESD player. i.e. it helps to smooth out the sound and >improve the tonality - but not as much as the d2a. On the >other hand, it doesn't squash the dynamics like the d2a does. The PS Audio Digital Link has a very different sound between the early serial numbers (< 1050) and later models. In particular, it has much improved tonality and definition. Violins almost sound like violins. -- Doug